Free No Time For Love (Bantam Series No. 40) by Barbara Cartland

fact I should think it will be getting really hot as soon as we move into April.”
    “That is what I thought,” Larina agreed.
    “I can quite understand that you need some summer dresses,” Mr. Donaldson said.
    He smiled and it gave him a humanity which had been rather lacking before.
    “I have a wife and three daughters who seldom talk about anything else. So I am well aware how important they are.”
    Larina smiled.
    “Then as you understand perhaps you will help me. I have no further need for anything in this house, and so I want to sell everything it contains.”
    “You will be leaving this house then, when you come back from Sorrento?” Mr. Donaldson asked.
    “Yes ... I will be ... going away.”
    “Well we could put the furniture up for auction, or even try to find a buyer among the dealers, but it is going to take time.”
    He looked around him, then said:
    “I wonder if you could show me the rest of the house, Miss Milton?”
    “Of course,” Larina agreed.
    She rose to her feet and led Mr. Donaldson over the house.
    There was not a great deal to see.
    The mahogany bed and the matching furniture in her mother’s room, while attractive, were not valuable.
    There was nothing in her own room which was worth more than a few pounds, but the Dining-Room table was good and so were the chairs which her father had said were Hepplewhite.
    They were however not fashionable at the moment and there were some pictures on the walls which seemed to interest Mr. Donaldson more.
    Finally they went into the tiny Study, and he glanced round quickly, apparently not interested in the books.
    “I am afraid that is everything!” Larina said apologetically. “There is practically nothing downstairs in the kitchen. You see, since my father died we have not been able to afford a maid.”
    She blushed as she spoke, thinking he would find it strange that she had lied to him on his arrival.
    “You are living here alone?” he asked.
    She nodded.
    “I do not like to think of your doing that Miss Milton,” he said. “I should not permit it if it was one of my own daughters. It seems to me that the sooner you get to Sorrento the better!”
    He paused, then added with a smile:
    “Naturally you cannot go without something to wear and I think I can solve the problem.”
    “How can you do that?” Larina asked.
    “I am going to advance you a hundred pounds, Miss Milton, and while you are away I will sell the contents of your house. It if comes to more than a hundred pounds then I will let you have the balance when you return.”
    “Supposing it is less?” Larina asked apprehensively.
    “I do not think it will be,” Mr. Donaldson replied. “It is just a question of finding the right purchasers and that takes time. Some of the things, like the desk in the Sitting-Room, are quite valuable and the sideboard in the Dining-Room is worth perhaps fifteen pounds!”
    “Perhaps you should get further advice before you commit yourself,” Larina suggested nervously.
    “I’ll take a gamble on it,” Mr. Donaldson smiled.
    He sat down as he spoke at the desk in the Study which Larina had used.
    It was a sturdy piece of furniture and had none of the elegance of her mother’s upstairs.
    “If I write you a cheque,” Mr. Donaldson said taking a cheque-book out of his pocket, “you’ll be able to cash it tomorrow. Could you buy all the clothes you need in three days?”
    “Yes, I am sure I could,” Larina agreed.
    “That will give me time to make the reservations on the boat from Dover to Calais and on the trains that will take you first to Rome and then on to Naples.”
    “I can hardly believe it is true,” Larina exclaimed.
    “I’ll let you know what time I shall be calling for you on Thursday morning.” Mr. Donaldson said. “I have a feeling it will be early.”
    “I will not mind that.”
    Mr. Donaldson blotted the cheque.
    “If there is anything you want to ask me in the meantime,” he said, “you can get in touch with